Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley and other tribal officials recently advocated in Washington D.C. for the extension of a law that compensates victims of radiation exposure in the West.
In December, the expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was cut from a larger defense bill in the U-S House, outraging tribal leaders.
Without the extension of the bill known as RECA many tribal members sickened from nuclear weapons testing and uranium mine work during the Cold War will continue to be ineligible for compensation.
Curley met with Missouri Senator Josh Hawley to press for RECA’s inclusion in future legislation ahead of its expiration this summer.
Tribal leaders want additional workers and types of illnesses included in an updated version of the compensation act.